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Plants and love and sex

Carl Linnaeus’ ideas about the sexuality of plants caused some to be alarmed and others to be titillated. It was 1729, after all.

His aim in drawing parallels between the sex life of plants and humans was to explain more clearly how nature worked by means of imagery.

When the Swedish botanist published Systema Naturae, it certainly only took a matter of months for Linnaeus to become famous.

This year is the Carl Linnaeus tercentenary – he was born in 1707 – which is being celebrated all over Europe with a series of events.

Here at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, the 300th anniversary of his birth is being marked by Herbarium Amoris: a Tribute to Carl Linnaeus, an exhibition of photographs produced by Edvard Koinberg (June 12-July 15).

Koinberg’s photographs are a stunning visual companion to Linnaeus’ Nuptiis et sexu plantarum – the nuptials and sex of plants.

The exhibition is in co-operation with the Swedish Institute and the Embassy of Sweden in London